Carlops () is a small village in the Pentland Hills, within the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, close to the boundary with Midlothian. It lies between West Linton and Penicuik. The village was founded in 1784 and developed cotton weaving, coalmining and limestone mining. The name derives from the Scots "Carlins Lowp" (English: "Witches' Leap"), since near the south of the village there are two exposed rock faces about high facing each other, with a similar distance between them. Folklore maintained that witches would leap from one face to the other, over the chasm, for entertainment of an evening. Notable residents C. T. R. Wilson (1869–1959), winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927, retired to Carlops and died there in 1959. Dr Archibald "Archie" Lamont FRSE FGS (21 October 1907 – 16 March 1985), Scottish geologist, palaeontologist, Scottish Nationalist, writer, poet and politician, retired to Carlops and lived in Jess Cottage. See also List of places in the Scottish Borders List of places in Scotland External links RCAHMS record for Carlops, Spittal RCAHMS record for Carlops Hill SCRAN image: Allan Ramsay Hotel, Main Street, Carlops Geological Conservation Review / JNCC: Subglacial meltwater Villages in the Scottish Borders